The increasing development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technologies has allowed greater use of UAVs as remote sensing platforms to enhance satellite and manned aerial vehicle remote sensing surveillance and environmental management systems. Particularly, the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research - INPE has an Environmental Data Collection System (SCD) since 1993. Recently, the MCTI (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation) opened the National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters (CEMADEN). Both may need additional resources for their expansions in the near future as offered by UAV technologies. These needs illustrate the potential of UAV technologies as complement to existing or future systems.
This paper presents an overview of data transmission used in UAVs for remote sensing surveillance and environmental management systems.
This includes post-disaster assessment, environmental management and monitoring of infrastructure development with emphasis on imagery data communication system between the users and the aerial vehicle - link via satellite, available mobile communication networks and direct line of sight. Modulation types and allocated frequency bands for these applications are presented. These allows an image data signal captured by the surveillance camera be either displayed on the terminals in real time, or stored on ground for future off-line analysis.
So, this overview aims to contribute to the expansion of current and future remote sensing surveillance and environmental management systems in Brazil using UAV technologies.